It is well known that nowadays passenger safety issues are in the limelight of public attention, and especially so when related to children. Various separate and distinct discrete-issue disclosures have been published but no solution provides an integrative protection suite, or protection envelope, in response to the complete cycle of operation of a vehicle has yet been made available. A few examples out of the many existing patents are cited hereinbelow.
Conventionally, the use of occupant classification sensing and detection systems is divulged separately in various applications addressing child protection. Examples of solutions for separately engaging airbag and seatbelt tensioning devices are found in U.S. Patent Applications Nos. 20030209893, 20060226641, 20040232674, and 20050209755. A crash notification system is found in U.S. Patent Application No. 20050040937, and further single-issue disclosures are divulged in U.S. Patent Applications Nos. 20060241836, 20050200465, 20060033634, and 20060139159.
The motor vehicle child-safety paradigm is a reflection of the current approach towards protecting a child with respect to a set of potential hazards paradigmatically treated as unrelated hazards. Hazard mitigation is carried out separately and independently. Hazard mitigation, uncoupled in time and event domains, points to and treats a specific scenario of the hazard. The current approach treats child protection in a piecemeal fashion, which probably reduces effectiveness and raises expenditure of “child safety content” per vehicle. The child-safety paradigm has deep roots in the automotive community, and its effects reverberate throughout the industry.
In the background art, means for the protection of a child from hazards presented by vehicles are provided by a variety of separate vehicle systems wherein each one of those separate systems is configured to deal with one specific hazard.
It would therefore be beneficiary to provide an integrative protection suite covering the various hazards to which children occupants of a vehicle are exposed during the complete cycle of operation of the vehicle. The disclosure of the present claimed invention reflects a shift in the child-safety paradigm as now recognizes and handles the set of potential hazards to which a child is exposed.